Monday, November 24, 2014

The K5 :real robot cop



Visitors to Microsoft's Silicon Valley campus had a close encounter with security guards guarding the parking lot earlier this month. But they weren't human security guards.The robot security guards, which go by the name K5, made an appearance on Microsoft's campus for a Nov. 5 event called "Rise of the Robots."According to ExtremeTech, each of the K5 security guard robots from robotics company Knightscope stands 5 feet tall and weighs 300 pounds, so you probably don’t want to mess with one.
The K5 robots don’t come with any weapons onboard—thankfully—but they use a suite of alarms, sirens, and cameras to monitor and patrol the grounds of Microsoft’s campus. If one spots trouble, it’ll either sound an alarm or dispatch a human security guard to its location. 
ExtremeTech notes that the K5 can run for up to 24 hours on a single charge, and can recharge in only about 20 minutes. Its battery won’t die out in the field, though—these bots will return to the charging station by themselves when their batteries start to run dry.

Dimensions:

Height - 60 Inches (,524 mm)

Length - 36 Inches (914 mm)

Width - 32 inches (813 mm) )

Weight - 300 pounds (136 kg)

Sensor Options
Optical Character Recognition
Converts scanned images of alphanumeric text into machine-encoded text for comparison against a defined database or ‘Hot List’

Omnidirectional Imaging
360-degree high definition video capture

Thermal Imaging
Used to detect and measure minute temperature differences

Microphones
High quality audio capture

Air Quality
Monitors ambient air for a number of specified particulates

Ultrasonic
Multiple detectors that measure speed and distances to surrounding objects

Infrared
Uses the infrared light spectrum invisible to the human eye to provide video in low or no-light conditions

Radar
Detection system that uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction or speed of objects

Lidar
Remote sensing technology that measures distance by illuminating a target with a laser and analyzing the reflected light - provides accurate 3D mapping of the environment and specific objects